Commodity packaging body

ABSTRACT

An article packaging body is formed from a sheet of hard material so as to comprise an article containing plate part having a plurality of containing recesses for containing articles, a cover plate part connected with the article containing plate part, and a gripping piece forming plate part formed by extending from the article containing plate part and/or the cover plate part via a folding line. A plurality of gripping pieces is formed in the gripping piece forming plate part so as to be separable individually and to hold an article at the tip end of each of the gripping pieces. The gripping piece forming plate part is folded onto the article containing plate part such that the articles are placed in the respective containing recesses, and the cover plate part is openably closed so as to sandwich the gripping piece forming plate part between the cover plate part and the article containing plate part.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an article packaging body forcontaining miniature articles to be sold or carried. The presentinvention is particularly suitably applicable to a zinc-air cellpackaging body for containing a plurality of zinc-air cells to be soldor carried, and such zinc-air cell packaging body is constructed tocontain a plurality of zinc-air cells having constitution forfacilitating the peeling of a seal film sealing air holes and alsofacilitating the loading to devices such as hearing aids or the like,and to hold the zinc-air cells reliably when transported or carried.

BACKGROUND ART

As the mainstream of hearing aids develops from behind-the-ear type tosmaller-sized in-the-ear type, the size of battery cells for suchhearing aids is also required to be reduced accordingly. Also, since thehearing aids are used daily and continuously, the cells with longer lifeare desired. Button-type zinc-air cells are used as battery cells forhearing aids satisfying these requirements.

An zinc-air cell utilizes oxygen in the air as a positive electrodeactive material, as shown in FIG. 13A, thus a positive electrode can 51of an zinc-air cell 50 is provided with air holes 52 for introducingair, and, as shown in FIG. 13B, these air holes 52 are sealed with aseal film 56 before use. When the zinc-air cell 50 is loaded and used ina device such as a hearing aid, the seal film 56 is removed to open theair holes 52 so that the zinc-air cell 50 starts its power generatingfunction by using oxygen in the air introduced through the air holes 52as the positive electrode active material.

Since a zinc-air cell employed for a minimal-sized device such as anin-the-ear type hearing aid is extremely small-sized, the replacement ofsuch cell is very difficult. In particular, a zinc-air cell 50 involvesa task to remove the seal film 56 for opening the air holes 52 beforeloading in a device, and this task of peeling off the small seal film 56from the miniaturized zinc-air cell 50 is not easy. Considering the factthat principal users of hearing aids are elderly people, it will beparticularly difficult for those elderly people, whose fingertipmanipulation ability and eyesight have failed, to peel off the seal film56 from the small zinc-air cell 50 and to load the small cell in a smallhearing aid.

In order to facilitate the task of removing a seal film 56 and loadingthe zinc-air cell in a device, there has been developed a zinc-air cell50, as shown in FIG. 14, in which one end of a seal film 53 formed to belong and hard is attached to a positive electrode can 51 to provide asealing portion 53 a, and a gripping portion 53 b is provided in anextension from the sealing portion 53 a (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,095).When the gripping portion 53 is gripped with fingertips, the zinc-aircell 50 becomes to be hung on the end of the seal film 53. In thisconfiguration, as shown in FIG. 15, the zinc-air cell 50 can be placedin a cell receiving hole 55 of a device and the seal film 53 can bepulled up obliquely to remove the sealing portion 53 a from the zinc-aircell 50, so that the tasks of loading the cell in the device and ofremoving the seal film can be accomplished.

The zinc-air cell 50, that can be provided for the positive electrodeactive material with oxygen in the atmosphere, is able to accommodate alarger quantity of a negative electrode active material, and thereforethe cell capacity is approximately doubled and the service life is alsoapproximately doubled compared to other types of cells of an identicalsize. Nevertheless, as for devices such as hearing aids which are to beused continuously, if the service life of the cell ends and powershutoff occurs, this directly leads to inconvenience for the user.Therefore, it is a general practice to sell a plurality of zinc-aircells in a package so as to enable users to always have a spare cellready for replacement, and it is a general practice of the users tocarry such package of cells.

The zinc-air cell 50 shown in FIG. 14 is placed in a plurality in apackaging container 60 formed by resin molding (injection molding), anda zinc-air cell packaging body thus produced, containing the pluralityof zinc-air cells 50, is sold or carried.

The packaging container 60 for zinc-air cells according to theabove-mentioned conventional technique, which is formed by injectionmolding or the like, possesses enough durability to endure long-termuse. On the other hand, zinc-air cells 50 contained therein are used fora device to operate continuously and hence required to be replacedfrequently. Therefore, even though containing a plurality of zinc-aircells 50, the useful period of the packaging container 60 will come toan end in a relative short period of time. For example, an zinc-air cell50 used for hearing aides is typically required to be replaced afterabout 10 days of use, though depending on the mode of use and the size.Accordingly, a packaging container 60 containing six zinc-air cells 50will become useless in about two months from the purchase. The packagingcontainer 60 is then disposed as a waste matter even though it is stillusable, which constitutes a factor of the problems of increasing wasteunnecessarily and failing to exploit resources.

Further, the zinc-air cell 50 is held at their seal films 53 byprotrusions 61 formed in the packaging container 60, and housed in themounted condition in the packaging container 60. Accordingly, if thezinc-air cell 50 is subjected to vibration or shock when transported orcarried, the bonding strength with the seal film 53 might be decreased,or the zinc-air cell 50 might be removed or drop off. Such problem iscaused by the fact that, when exposed to shock or vibration, the sealfilm 53 fixed to the packaging container 60 and the zinc-air cell 50 aresubjected to stress in different directions and of different magnitudes,and therefore the seal film 53 and the zinc-air cell 50 move separatelyfrom each other. If the zinc-air cell 50 is held with protrusions 61,the seal film 53 might be moved or deformed by shock or vibration, andthe seal film 53 might be removed or fall off. If the seal film 53 isremoved or falls off, the electrolyte will evaporate and be scatteredand lost through the air holes even if the zinc-air cell 50 is containedin the packaging container 60. If such condition lasts for a long periodof time, the electrolyte will be completely lost and the zinc-air cell50 will not be usable any more. Also, even if the result is not soserious as the seal film 53 is removed or fall off, the deterioration ofthe bonding condition of the seal film 53 to the zinc-air cell 50 willlead to deterioration of the sealing condition of the air holes andhence deterioration of the cell properties.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive articlepackaging body for containing a plurality of small-sized articles suchas the above-mentioned zinc-air cells to be sold or carried, and forfacilitating the handling of the articles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an articlepackaging body that contains a plurality of zinc-air cells each having aseal film structure designed to facilitate the loading of the zinc-aircells in a device, so that the articles are sold or carried.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve these objects, an article packaging body of thepresent invention formed from a sheet of hard material comprises anarticle containing plate part having a plurality of containing recessesfor containing articles, a cover plate part being connected with thearticle containing plate part, and a gripping piece forming plate partbeing formed by extending from the article containing plate part and/orthe cover plate part via a folding line, wherein a plurality of grippingpieces is formed in the gripping piece forming plate part so as to beseparable individually and to hold an article at the tip end of each ofthe gripping pieces, the gripping piece forming plate part is foldedonto the article containing plate part such that the articles are placedin the respective containing recesses, and the cover plate part isopenably closed such that the gripping piece forming plate part issandwiched between the cover plate part and the article containing platepart.

Further, in order to achieve the aforementioned objects, an articlepackaging body of the present invention formed from a sheet of hardmaterial comprises an article containing plate part having a pluralityof containing recesses for containing articles, a cover plate part beingconnected with the article containing plate part and having a pluralityof containing recesses for containing articles, and gripping pieceforming plate parts being formed by extending respectively from thearticle containing plate part and the cover plate part via a foldingline, a plurality of gripping pieces is formed in the respectivegripping piece forming plate parts so as to be separable individuallyand to hold an article at the tip end of each of the gripping pieces,the gripping piece forming plate parts are folded onto the articlecontaining plate part such that the articles are placed in therespective containing recesses, and the cover plate part is openablyclosed such that the gripping piece forming plate parts are sandwichedbetween the cover plate part and the article containing plate part.

In the invention as described above, the article is a zinc-air cell, thezinc-air cell is held at the tip end of a gripping piece through a sealfilm consisting of a sealing portion removably attached to the zinc-aircell so as to close an air hole thereof and a fold-back portion formedby folding the edge of the sealing portion onto the sealing portion soas to be extended therefrom, and the fold-back portion is connected tothe tip end of the gripping piece. By constructing in this manner, thepresent invention can provide an article packaging body optimal forcontaining zinc-air cells.

As the articles to be held at the tip ends of the gripping pieces of thearticles packaging body, there may be exemplified button-type cellsincluding zinc-air cells as mentioned in the above and watch cells (alsocalled as coin cells), drug pills, fishhooks, sewing needles, screws,nails, miniature precision components, and so on. Such articles may alsobe directly attached to the tip ends of the gripping pieces with anadhesive or tackifier.

A synthetic resin such as PET may be used suitably as the sheetmaterial. Particularly, it is ecologically desirable to usebiodegradable plastics such as polylactic acids as the sheet material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A to 1C show the constitution of a zinc-air cell packaging bodyaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1A beinga plan view of the front side, FIG. 1B being a plan view of the backside, and FIG. 1C being a plan view of a sealing tape;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the state where the cover plate part ofthe zinc-air cell packaging body according to the first embodiment isopen;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the packaging body according to the firstembodiment in the developed configuration;

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along the line IVA-IVA and as viewed inthe direction of the arrows of FIG. 3 showing the packaging body;

FIGS. 5A and 5B show the constitution of the zinc-air cell according tothe first embodiment, FIG. 5A being a plan view and FIG. 5B being a sideview;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the constitution of an articlepackaging body according a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the constitution of the packaging bodyaccording to the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a cross section of the article packaging body according to thesecond embodiment;

FIGS. 9A to 9C show the constitution of a zinc-air cell packaging bodyaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 9A beinga plan view of the front side, FIG. 9B being a plan view of the backside, and FIG. 9C being a plan view of a sealing tape;

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the state where the cover plate part ofthe zinc-air cell packaging body according to the third embodiment isopen;

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the packaging body according to the thirdembodiment in the developed configuration;

FIG. 12A is a cross section taken along the line XIIA-XIIA and as viewedin the direction of the arrows of FIG. 11, and FIG. 12B is a crosssection taken along the line XIIB-XIIB and as viewed in the direction ofthe arrows of FIG. 11;

FIGS. 13A to 13B are perspective views showing the constitution of azinc-air cell according to a conventional technique;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the constitution of a zinc-aircell according to a conventional technique;

FIG. 15 is an illustration for illustrating how a zinc-air cell ismounted in a cell receiving hole according to the conventionaltechnique; and

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing the constitution of a packagingbody according to the conventional technique in which theabove-mentioned zinc-air cell is contained in a plurality.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 1A to 5Brelates to an article packaging body for containing zinc-air cells asthe articles to be contained.

Hereinbelow, description will be made with reference to a zinc-air cellpackaging body (article packaging body) 1 which contains a plurality ofzinc-air cells (articles) 4 to be sold or carried. In this example, thezinc-air cell packaging body 1 containing six zinc-air cells 4 is soldas one package, and a user who has bought this package is enabled tohave zinc-air cells ready for replacement by carrying the zinc-air cellpackaging body 1.

FIGS. 1A to 1C shows the external appearance of the front and back sidesof the zinc-air cell packaging body 1 according to the embodiment. Apackaging body 10 is formed by performing thermoforming (vacuum formingand/or air-pressure forming) on a hard sheet, for example a transparentsheet of polyethylene terephthalate (hereinbelow, referred to as PET) soas to impart a convexoconcave shape as required, and is provided with anapertures and the outline which are formed by punching the sheet bypress working. On the front side as shown in FIG. 1A, the part of azinc-air cell containing recess (containing recess) 21 containing sixcells 4 is left transparent so that it can be seen from the outside,while the other parts including the back side as shown in FIG. 1B aremade opaque by making prints on both the front and backsides. The printsinclude a trade name, part number, care instructions, and so on, whosespecific illustration is omitted in the drawings.

A hanging hole 41 is opened in the upper part of the packaging body 10for enabling the hanging display, and the height dimension of the wholebody is designed so as to be within the limit allowed by a hangingdisplay stand. When displayed for sale, a cell containing plate (articlecontaining plate part) 17 located on the front side and a cover plate(cover plate part) 18 located on the back side are fastened together bya sealing sticker 42 which is generally called “virgin sticker,” asshown in FIG. 1C so that the zinc-air cell packaging body 1 is notopened.

A user who has purchased this zinc-air cell packaging body 1 separatesthe cover plate 18 from the cell containing plate 17 by breaking thesealing sticker 42 along a perforation line 42 a formed at the centerthereof. In order to open the cover plate 18, the cell containing plate17 is held with one hand, and the cover plate 18 is pushed open with theother hand's thumb put on the cover plate 18 from a cut-out portion 30formed in the cell containing plate 17 as a fingerhold, whereby theengagement between these plates is released and the cover plate 18 isopened into the condition where the inside face of the cell containingplate 17 is laid open as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration where the cover plate 18 of the zinc-aircell packaging body 1 has been opened, and six zinc-air cells 4 arecontained in the cell containing recess 21 such that they are aligned ina longitudinal direction of the cell containing plate 17. The seal film15 attached to each of the zinc-air cells 4 has a fold-back piece(fold-back portion) 15 b, to which the tip end of each of grippingpieces 16, which are formed by separating, along separation lines 29, agripping piece forming plate (gripping piece forming plate part) 19formed by being extended from one longitudinal side of the cellcontaining plate 17 and folded inwards, is joined.

The zinc-air cell 4 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B such thata power generating element using zinc as a negative electrode activematerial is contained in a positive electrode can 5 formed in aclosed-end cylindrical shape, a sealing plate 6 serving as a negativeelectrode is placed on the opening of the positive electrode can 5 witha gasket interposed therebetween, and the open end of the positiveelectrode can 5 is sealed by crimping. Air holes 7 are formed in thebottom of the positive electrode can 5 for introducing oxygen as apositive electrode active material. In an unused condition, these airholes 7 are sealed with a seal film 15 attached thereto, and the sealfilm 15 is removed from the positive electrode can 5 before use so thatthe zinc-air cell 4 starts power generation, using oxygen in the airintroduced through the air holes 7 as the positive electrode activematerial. The seal film 15 is formed by applying an adhesive on arequired surface of a film of polyethylene or polypropylene, and agripping piece 16 to be described later is formed integrally with thepackaging body 10.

As for the procedures for mounting the zinc-air cell 4 constructed asdescribed above in a device such as a hearing aid, since the grippingpiece 16 is formed of a hard sheet, all the movements, includinggripping the gripping piece 16 with fingertips to hold the zinc-air cell4, placing the zinc-air cell 4 in the cell receiving portion of thedevice, and pulling the gripping piece 16, are performed easily.Further, when the gripping piece 16 is pulled, since the fold-back piece(fold-back portion) 15 b is folded back from the sealing face (sealingportion) 15 a, the movement of removing the sealing face 15 a from thepositive electrode can 5 is performed smoothly and the risk of pullingout the zinc-air cell 4 from the device when removing the sealing face15 a is eliminated.

The tip end of the respective gripping pieces 16 is joined to the eachfold-back piece 15 a of the seal films 15 attached to the respectivezinc-air cells 4. These gripping pieces 16 are formed by separatingindividually, along the separation lines 29, the gripping piece formingplate (gripping piece forming portion) 19 that is formed by beingextended from one longitudinal side of the cell containing plate 17 andfolded inwards.

In order to take out a single zinc-air cell 4 from the zinc-air cellpackaging body 1, a gripping piece 16 is gripped with fingertips placedat the portion of the separation line 29 where the line is curved in acircular arc, so that the single gripping piece 16 is raised up and thecell 4 is taken out of the cell containing recess 21. The gripping piece16 is then cut off along the perforations of the cutoff line 26. Thezinc-air cells 4 are taken out one by one in this manner.

FIG. 3 shows the packaging body 10 in the developed configuration. Asshown in FIG. 4 that is the cross section taken along the line IVA-IVAand as viewed in the direction of arrows, a convexo-concave shape isimparted to the packaging body 10 by thermoforming a sheet of PET, andthe outline and an aperture are formed by punching the sheet by means ofpress working while at the same time folding lines and cutoff lines areformed.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cell containing plate 17 at the center isprovided with a shallow reinforcing recess 22 for preventing deformationof the plate, and cell containing recesses 21 for containing sixzinc-air cells 4 arranged in a line are formed in the reinforcing recess22 so as to have a depth corresponding to the height of the zinc-aircells 4. Further, in the top part of the cell containing plate 17, ahanging hole 41 and an engagement projection 23 to be engaged with thecover plate 18 are formed, and in the lower part, a positioning recess24 is formed for being engaged with the cover plate 18 for positioningthe same. As shown in the cross sectional view of FIG. 4, the cellcontaining recess 21 has its falling edge formed into an inclined plane,so that even if an zinc-air cell 4 hung on the tip end of the grippingpiece 16 through a soft seal film 15 is tilted with respect to thegripping piece 16, the zinc-air cell is properly placed in the cellcontaining recess 21 with the tilt being corrected.

The gripping piece forming plate 19, that is formed by being extendedfrom one longitudinal side of the cell containing plate 17 via a foldingline 25 formed by perforations, has six gripping pieces 16 formed byseparating the gripping piece forming plate 19 along separation lines 29each provided with a circular-arc shape for making it easy to pick upthe gripping pieces one by one with fingertips. The gripping pieces 16are formed so as to be cut off easily along a cutoff line 26 formed byperforations and, when assembled, as shown in FIG. 2, are folded ontothe cell containing plate 17 from the folding line 25. Further, each ofthe gripping pieces 16 is provided with a reinforcing rib 38 forreinforcing the gripping piece 16 so that the gripping piece 16 will notbe bent when the zinc-air cell 4 is hung on the tip end through the sealfilm 15.

A narrow hinge plane (hinge plane part) 20 is formed on the otherlongitudinal side of the cell containing plate 17 via a first foldingline 31, and a cover plate 18 is formed to extend from the hinge plane20 via a second folding line 32. The first folding line 31 is formedsuch that the linking parts between the elongated perforations formingthe first folding line 31 are shorter, whereas the second folding line32 is formed such that the linking parts between the elongatedperforations forming the second folding line 32 are longer than those ofthe first folding line 31. By constructing the perforations of the firstand second folding lines 31 and 32 in this manner, the first foldingline 31 which is easier to fold is allowed to function preferentially asthe hinge when the cover plate 18 is opened/closed with respect to thecell containing plate 17, and the hinge plane 20 is first folded into asubstantially right angle along the first folding line 31. Thereafter,the hinge plane 20 is then folded into a substantially right angle alongthe second folding line 32 so that the cover plate 18 is closed on thecell containing plate 17. Therefore, the hinge plane 20 is allowed tomake substantially right angles with the cell containing plate 17 andthe cover plate 18 without causing deformation to the packaging body 10,and excellent appearance is imparted to the packaging body 10.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover plate 18 is provided with areinforcing projection 33 that is formed for preventing deformation ofthe cover plate 18 so as to cover almost the whole area thereof and toproject low from the plane of the drawing surface in FIG. 3. The coverplate 18 is also provided, at its portion corresponding to the fold-backpart of the gripping piece forming plate 19, with a step portion 35where the height of projection is decreased to receive the thickness ofthe gripping piece forming plate 19, and is further provided, at theedge thereof, with a fingerhold cut-out portion 34 for making it easyfor a user to put his/her finger on the cell containing plate 17 whenopening the cover plate 18 from the cell containing plate 17. On thereinforcing projection 33, there are provided a cell pressing projection28 for holding down the cells 4 accommodated in the cell containingrecesses 21, an engagement recess 36 to be engaged with theabove-mentioned engagement projection 23, and a positioning projection37 to be engaged with the above-mentioned positioning recess 24.

The packaging body 10 is formed in the configuration as shown in FIGS. 3and 4 by thermoforming and press working a sheet of PET having printsthereon. The configuration of the packaging body 10 as shown in FIG. 2is then obtained by aligning and placing zinc-air cells 4 each having aseal film 15 attached thereto within the cell containing recesses 21,folding the gripping piece forming plate 19 onto the cell containingplate 17 from the folding line 25, and joining the fold-back pieces 15 bof the seal films 15 to the tip ends of the gripping pieces 16. Further,when the cover plate 18 is folded onto the cell containing plate 17along the first and second folding lines 31 and 32, the positioningprojection 37 formed into an oblong shape enters into the positioningrecess 24 formed into a substantially rectangular shape gradually in thelongitudinal direction. The longitudinal alignment is thus achievedbetween the cell containing plate 17 and the cover plate 18, and whenthe cell containing plate 17 and the cover plate 18 are pressed to eachother in the compressing direction, the positioning projection 37 isfitted in the positioning recess 24. Further, when the engagementprojection 23 is fitted in the engagement recess 36 by pressing theupper part of the packaging body 10 in the compressing direction, theconfiguration as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B where the cover plate 18 isclosed with the gripping piece forming plate 19 placed on the cellcontaining plate 17 is obtained.

Since the engagement between the cell containing plate 17 and the coverplate 18 is accomplished by fitting the circular or oblong projectioninto the approximately rectangular recess, the projection is engagedwith the recess with a plurality of points of the projection in pointcontact with the peripheral surface of the recess, and the deteriorationof the engagement security is suppressed. Accordingly, even if the coverplate 18 is opened and closed many times until all six zinc-air cells 4have been consumed, the engagement function of the packaging body 10,which is simply constructed with a sheet material, will not deteriorate.

In the embodiment described above, although six zinc-air cells 4 arepackaged in one package, the number of zinc-air cells is not limited tosix. For example, for the case of zinc-air cells 4 having a largerdiameter, a smaller number of such zinc-air cells 4 may be packaged sothat the increase of the height dimension of the zinc-air cell packagingbody 1 is suppressed to conform the restriction on height dimension ofpackaging bodies to be sold in hanging display, and the portability isnot impaired.

FIGS. 6 to 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention, whichrelates to an article packaging body for containing zinc-air cells. Themain difference from the first embodiment is that a gripping pieceforming plate is also provided to the cover plate by being extendedtherefrom, while the other constructional features are similar to thoseof the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows configurations of a zinc-air cell packaging body (articlepackaging body) 103 according to the second embodiment, which isconstructed to pack twelve zinc-air cells (articles) 107 into onepackage in a packaging body 131.

As shown in FIG. 7, the packaging body 131 is provided with a cellcontaining plate (article containing plate part) 132, a cover plate(cover plate part) 133, a first gripping piece forming plate (firstgripping piece forming plate part) 134, and a second gripping pieceforming plate (second gripping piece forming plate part) 135, bythermoforming and press working a sheet of PET. The cell containingplate 132 is provided with cell containing recesses (containingrecesses) 136 for containing twelve zinc-air cells 107 arranged in twolines, and the zinc-air cells 107 attached via a seal film 105 to therespective tip ends of six gripping pieces 140 formed in the firstgripping piece forming plate 134 and the zinc-air cells 107 attached viaa seal film 105 to the respective tip ends of six gripping pieces 140formed in the second gripping piece forming plate 135 are contained inthese cell containing recesses 136.

As shown in FIG. 6, the first gripping piece forming plate 134 is foldedalong a folding line 147 b onto the cell containing plate 132, thesecond gripping piece forming plate 135 is folded along a folding line147 c onto the cover plate 133, the cover plate 133 is folded along afolding line 147 a onto the cell containing plate 132, and twoengagement projections 138 and 138 formed in the cover plate 133 arefitted in two engagement recesses 137 and 137 formed in cell containingplate 132. Thereby, twelve zinc-air cells 107 are contained in thepackaging body 131 as shown in FIG. 8.

In order to take out a zinc-air cell 107, the engagement between theengagement recess 137 and the engagement projection 138 is released toopen the cover plate 133 as shown in FIG. 6, and any desired grippingpiece 140 is cut off along a cutoff line 150. In this manner, thezinc-air cell 107 is taken out in the condition attached to the tip endof the gripping piece 140 via the seal film 105. If the zinc-air cell107 is so much miniaturized that it is difficult to handle even withfingertips, the zinc-air cell 107 is held by gripping the gripping piece140 and is placed in the cell receiving portion of a device as it isattached to the gripping piece 140. The gripping piece 140 is thenpulled to remove the seal film 105 from the zinc-air cell 107.

FIGS. 9A to 12B show a third embodiment of the present invention, whichrelates to an article packaging body for containing zinc-air cells. Themain difference from the first embodiment is that containing recessesare formed in each of an article containing part and cover plate part,and a gripping piece forming plate part is also provided to each of themby being extended therefrom, while the other constructional features aresimilar to those of the first embodiment.

FIGS. 9A to 9C show the external appearance of the front and back sidesof a zinc-air cell packaging body (article packaging body) 201 accordingto the third embodiment. A packaging body 210 is formed by performingthermoforming (vacuum forming and/or air-pressure forming) on atransparent sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (hereinbelow, referredto as PET) so as to impart a convexo-concave shape as required, and isprovided with an aperture and the outline which are formed by punchingthe sheet by press working. On the cell containing plate (articlecontaining plate part) 217 side as shown in FIG. 9A, the part ofzinc-air cell containing recesses (containing recesses) 221 a containingfour zinc-air cells (articles) 204 is left transparent so that it can beseen from the outside, while the other parts are made opaque by makingprints. Further, the cover plate (cover plate part) 218 as shown in FIG.9B covers the cell containing plate 217 such that the cover plate 218can be opened and closed freely, and the cover plate 218 is alsoprovided with cell containing recesses (containing recesses) 221 b forcontaining zinc-air cells 204. Similarly to the cell containing recesses221 a of the cell containing plate, the part of the cell containingrecesses 221 b of the cover plate 218 is also left transparent, whilethe other parts are made opaque by making prints. The prints include atrade name, part number, care instructions, and so on, whose specificillustration is omitted in the drawings.

A hanging hole 241 is opened in the upper part of the packaging body 210for enabling the hanging display, and the height dimension of the wholebody is designed so as to be within the limit allowed by a hangingdisplay stand. When displayed for sale, the cell containing plate 217and the cover plate 218 are fastened together by a sealing sticker 242which is generally called “virgin sticker” provided with perforations242 a, so that the zinc-air cell packaging body 201 is not opened. Themethod of opening the zinc-air cell packaging body 201 having thesealing sticker 242 applied thereto is similar to the method asdescribed in relation to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the zinc-air cell packaging body 201where the cover plate 218 is opened. Four zinc-air cells 204 aligned inthe longitudinal directions of the cell containing plate 217 and twozinc-air cells 204 aligned in the longitudinal directions of the coverplate 218 are contained in the cell containing recesses 221 a and 221 b,respectively. The seal film 215 attached to each of the zinc-air cells204 has a fold-back piece (fold-back portion) 215 b, to which the tipend of each of gripping pieces 216, which are formed by separating,along separation lines 229, gripping piece forming plates (grippingpiece forming plate parts) 219 and 227 extended respectively from onelongitudinal side of the cell containing plate 217 and the cover plate218 and folded inwards, is joined. The seal film 215 is similar to thatof the first embodiment and consists of a sealing face 215 a and theabove-mentioned fold-back piece 215 b.

In order to take out a single zinc-air cell 204 from the zinc-air cellpackaging body 201, a gripping piece 216 is gripped with fingertipsplaced at the portion of the separation line 229 where the line iscurved in a circular arc, so that the single gripping piece 216 israised up and the cell 204 is taken out of the cell containing recess221 a or 221 b. The gripping piece 216 is then cut off along theperforations of the cutoff line 226. The zinc-air cells 204 are takenout one by one in this manner.

FIG. 11 shows the packaging body 210 in the developed configuration. Asshown in FIG. 12A that is the cross section taken along the lineXIIA-XIIA and as viewed in the direction of arrows and FIG. 12B that isthe cross section taken along the line XIIB-XIIB and as viewed in thedirection of arrows, a convexoconcave shape is imparted by thermoforminga sheet of PET, and the outline and an aperture are formed by punchingthe sheet by means of press working while at the same time folding linesand cutoff lines are formed.

As shown in FIGS. 11, 12A and 12B, the cell containing plate 217 isprovided with a shallow reinforcing recess 222 for preventingdeformation of the plate, and cell containing recesses 221 a forcontaining four cells 204 arranged in a line are formed in thereinforcing recess 222 so as to have a depth corresponding to the heightof the zinc-air cells 204. Further, in the upper part of the cellcontaining plate 17, a hanging hole 241 and an engagement projection 223to be engaged with the cover plate 218 are formed. As shown in the crosssectional view of FIG. 12A, the cell containing recess 221 a has itsfalling edge formed into an inclined plane, so that even if an zinc-aircell 204 hung on the tip end of a gripping piece 216 by a soft seal film215 is tilted with respect to the gripping piece 216, the zinc-air cellis properly placed in the cell containing recess 221 a with the tiltbeing corrected.

The gripping piece forming plate 219, that is formed by being extendedfrom one longitudinal side of the cell containing plate 217 via afolding line 225 formed by perforations, is provided with four grippingpieces 216 formed by separating the gripping piece forming plate 219along the separation lines 229 each provided with a circular-arc shapefor making it easy to pick up the gripping pieces one by one withfingertips. The gripping pieces 216 are formed so as to be cut offeasily along the cutoff line 226 formed by perforations and, whenassembled, as shown in FIG. 10, are folded onto the cell containingplate 217 from the folding line 225. Further, each of the grippingpieces 216 is provided with a reinforcing rib 238 for reinforcing thegripping piece 216 so that the gripping piece 216 will not be bent whenthe zinc-air cell 204 is hung on the tip end through the seal film 215.

A narrow hinge plane (hinge plane portion) 220 is formed on the lowerpart of the article containing plate 217 via a first folding line 231,and a cover plate 218 is formed to extend from the hinge plane 220 via asecond folding line 232. The first folding line 231 is formed such thatthe linking parts between the elongated perforations forming the firstfolding line 231 are shorter, whereas the second folding line 232 isformed such that the linking parts between the elongated perforationsforming the second folding line 232 are longer than those of the firstfolding line 231. By constructing the perforations of the first andsecond folding lines 231 and 232 in this manner, the first folding line231 which is easier to fold is allowed to function preferentially as thehinge when the cover plate 218 is opened/closed with respect to the cellcontaining plate 217, and the hinge plane 220 is first folded into asubstantially right angle along the first folding line 231. Thereafter,the hinge plane 220 is then folded into a substantially right anglealong the second folding line 232 to close the cover plate 218 on thecell containing plate 217. Therefore, the hinge plane 220 makessubstantially right angles with the cell containing plate 217 and thecover plate 218 without causing deformation to the packaging body 210,and excellent appearance is obtained.

The cover plate 218 is provided with a reinforcing projection 233 thatis formed so as to cover almost the whole area thereof and to projectlow from the plane of the drawing surface, for preventing deformation ofthe cover plate 218 and for pressing the zinc-air cells 204 contained inthe cell containing recesses 221 a. Within this reinforcing projection233, there are provided cell containing recesses 221 b for accommodatingtwo zinc-air cells 204 so as to be depressed in the opposite directionto the depressing direction of the cell containing recesses 221 a in thearticle containing plate part 217, and to a depth corresponding to theheight of the zinc-air cells 204. In the lower part, there is providedan engagement recess 236 to be engaged with the engagement projection223 provided in the cell containing plate 217 for keeping the coverplate 218 closed on the cell containing plate 217. As shown in the crosssectional view of FIG. 12B, the cell containing recess 221 b, like thecell containing recess 221 a formed in the cell containing plate 217,has its falling edge formed into an inclined plane, so that even if anzinc-air cell 204 hung on the tip end of a gripping piece 216 through asoft seal film 215 is tilted with respect to the gripping piece 216, thezinc-air cell is properly placed in the cell containing recess 221 bwith the tilt being corrected.

Further, a gripping piece forming plate 227 is formed on onelongitudinal side of the cover plate 218 such that it is extendedtherefrom via two folding lines 225 a and 225 b which are formed byperforations and separated by a distance corresponding the height of theaforementioned reinforcing projection 233. The gripping piece formingplate 227 is provided, like its counterpart in the cell containing plate217, with two gripping pieces 216 formed by separating the grippingpiece forming plate 227 along the separation lines 229 each providedwith a circular-arc shape for making it easy to pick up the grippingpieces one by one with fingertips. The gripping pieces 216 are formed soas to be cut off easily along the cutoff line 226 formed by perforationsand, when assembled, as shown in FIG. 11, are folded onto the coverplate 218 from the folding lines 225 a and 225 b. Further, as shown inFIG. 10, each of the gripping pieces 216 is provided with a reinforcingrib 238 for reinforcing the gripping piece 216 so that the grippingpiece 216 will not be bent when the zinc-air cell 204 is hung on the tipend through the seal film 215.

The packaging body 210 is formed in the configuration as shown in FIGS.11, 12A and 12B by thermoforming and press working a sheet of PET havingprints thereon. The configuration of the packaging body 210 as shown inFIG. 10 is then obtained by aligning and placing zinc-air cells 204 eachhaving a seal film 215 attached thereto within the cell containingrecesses 221 a and 221 b, folding the gripping piece forming plate 219from the folding line 225 onto the cell containing plate 217, joiningthe fold-back pieces 215 b of the seal films 215 to the tip ends of thegripping pieces 216, folding the gripping piece forming plate 227 fromthe folding lines 225 a and 225 b onto the cover plate 218, and joiningthe fold-back pieces 215 b of the seal films 215 to the tip ends of thegripping pieces 216.

Then the configuration shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B where the cellcontaining plate 217 is closed with the cover plate 218 is obtained, bystarting from the configuration shown in FIG. 10, placing the coverplate 218 onto the cell containing plate 217 by folding the same alongthe first and second folding lines 231 and 232, and pressing the cellcontaining plate 217 and the cover plate 218 in the compressingdirection to cause the engagement projection 223 of the cell containingplate 217 to be fitted in the engagement recess 236.

Since the engagement between the cell containing plate 217 and the coverplate 218 is accomplished by fitting the circular or oblong projectioninto the approximately rectangular recess, the projection is engagedwith the recess with a plurality of points of the projection in pointcontact with the peripheral surface of the recess, the deterioration ofthe engagement security is suppressed. Accordingly, even if the coverplate 218 is opened and closed many times until all six zinc-air cells204 have been consumed, the engagement function of the packaging body210, which is simply constructed with a sheet material, will notdeteriorate.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described in the above, the article packaging body according to thepresent invention is formed easily from a single sheet of hard material,for example, by performing thermoforming and press working on a hardsheet material, and thus formed into a structure that is inexpensive andis still durable enough to be used for a limited time period until aplurality of contained articles have been consumed. Therefore, thearticle packaging body of the invention is suitable for eliminating thewaste of using expensive packaging bodies such as injection molded onesthat are usable semi-permanently. Additionally, since a part of thepackaging body constitutes a plurality of gripping pieces holding aplurality of articles respectively at their tip ends, one of thesearticles is taken out for use from the packaging body in the conditionhung on the tip end of the hard gripping piece by cutting off thegripping piece along the cutoff line. Therefore, the article is handledeasily even if the article is so miniaturized that it is difficult tohandle with fingertips.

In particular, when the present invention is applied to a packaging bodyfor zinc-air cells, the zinc-air cells contained in the packaging bodyare held by the containing recesses and gripping pieces so that theywill not be moved by vibration or shock. The gripping pieces areparticularly suitable for preventing the zinc-air cells from being movedby vibration or shock because not only they hold the respective zinc-aircells at their tip ends but also they are formed integrally with thecell containing plate part. Further, since a part of the packaging bodyconstitutes a plurality of gripping pieces, the tip ends of which areeach joined to an end of a seal film attached to each of a plurality ofzinc-air cells, one of the zinc-air cells is taken out for use from thepackaging body by cutting off the gripping piece along the cutoff linein the condition where the zinc-air cell is hung on the tip end of thehard gripping piece, and then the seal film that is folded back andjoined to the gripping piece is removed easily by placing the zinc-aircell, while holding the same with the gripping piece, into a cellreceiving portion of a device and pulling off the gripping piece.

1. An article packaging body being formed from a sheet of hard materialcomprising: an article containing plate part having a plurality ofcontaining recesses for containing articles; a cover plate part beingconnected with the article containing plate part; and a gripping pieceforming plate part being formed by extending from the article containingplate part and/or the cover plate part via a folding line, wherein aplurality of gripping pieces is formed in the gripping piece formingplate part so as to be separable individually and to hold an article atthe tip end of each of the gripping pieces, the gripping piece formingplate part is folded onto the article containing plate part such thatthe articles are placed in the respective containing recesses, and thecover plate part is openably closed such that the gripping piece formingplate part is sandwiched between the cover plate part and the articlecontaining plate part.
 2. An article packaging body being formed from asheet of hard material comprising: an article containing plate parthaving a plurality of containing recesses for containing articles; acover plate part being connected with the article containing plate partand having a plurality of containing recesses for containing articles;and gripping piece forming plate parts being formed by extendingrespectively from the article containing plate part and the cover platepart via a folding line, wherein a plurality of gripping pieces isformed in the respective gripping piece forming plate parts so as to beseparable individually and to hold an article at the tip end of each ofthe gripping pieces, the gripping piece forming plate parts are foldedonto the article containing plate part such that the articles are placedin the respective containing recesses, and the cover plate part isopenably closed such that the gripping piece forming plate parts aresandwiched between the cover plate part and the article containing platepart.
 3. The article packaging body according to claim 1, wherein thesheet of hard material is formed by thermoforming and press working. 4.The article packaging body according to claim 1, wherein a syntheticresin sheet material is used as the sheet of hard material.
 5. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 1, wherein a biodegradableplastic sheet material is used as the sheet of hard material.
 6. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 1, wherein the articlecontaining plate part is connected with the cover plate part via a hingeplane part and folded to the side of the cover plate part along foldinglines of said hinge plane part.
 7. The article packaging body accordingto claim 1, wherein the hinge plane part is formed into a requiredwidth, by being connected with the article containing plate part by asoft bending perforation line in which the length of linking partsbetween the elongated perforations is shorter, and with the cover platepart by a hard bending perforation line in which the length of linkingparts between the elongated perforations is larger.
 8. The articlepackaging body according to claim 1, wherein the article containingplate part and the cover plate part are provided with reinforcingconcave and convex portions, respectively.
 9. The article packaging bodyaccording to claim 1, wherein the plurality of gripping pieces are eachprovided with a reinforcing rib in a longitudinal direction.
 10. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 1, wherein the plurality ofgripping pieces are formed by separating the gripping piece formingplate part along separation lines provided with a circular-arc shape.11. The article packaging body according to claim 1, wherein anengagement structure for establishing engagement between the articlecontaining plate part and the cover plate part is formed by fitting arecess formed in one of the article containing plate part and the coverplate part over a projection formed in the other.
 12. The articlepackaging body according to claim 1, wherein an engagement structure forestablishing engagement between the article containing plate part andthe cover plate part by fitting a recess formed in one of the articlecontaining plate part and the cover plate part over a projection formedin the other is constituted by a circular projection and anapproximately rectangular recess.
 13. The article packaging bodyaccording to claim 1, wherein an aperture for hanging is formed in oneedge side such that the length from the aperture to the other edge iswithin a range of lengths permitted for the hanging display.
 14. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 1, wherein the article is abutton-type cell.
 15. The article packaging body according to claim 1,wherein the article is a zinc-air cell, the zinc-air cell is held at thetip end of the gripping piece through a seal film consisting of asealing portion removably attached to the zinc-air cell so as to closean air hole thereof and a fold-back portion formed by folding the edgeof the sealing portion onto the sealing portion so as to be extendedtherefrom, and the fold-back portion is connected to the tip end of thegripping piece.
 16. The article packaging body according to claim 2,wherein the sheet of hard material is formed by thermoforming and pressworking.
 17. The article packaging body according to claim 2, wherein asynthetic resin sheet material is used as the sheet of hard material.18. The article packaging body according to claim 2, wherein abiodegradable plastic sheet material is used as the sheet of hardmaterial.
 19. The article packaging body according to claim 2, whereinthe article containing plate part is connected with the cover plate partvia a hinge plane part and folded to the side of the cover plate partalong folding lines of said hinge plane part.
 20. The article packagingbody according to claim 2, wherein the hinge plane part is formed into arequired width, by being connected with the article containing platepart by a soft bending perforation line in which the length of linkingparts between the elongated perforations is shorter, and with the coverplate part by a hard bending perforation line in which the length oflinking parts between the elongated perforations is larger.
 21. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 2, wherein the articlecontaining plate part and the cover plate part are provided withreinforcing concave and convex portions, respectively.
 22. The articlepackaging body according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of grippingpieces are each provided with a reinforcing rib in a longitudinaldirection.
 23. The article packaging body according to claim 2, whereinthe plurality of gripping pieces are formed by separating the grippingpiece forming plate part along separation lines provided with acircular-arc shape.
 24. The article packaging body according to claim 2,wherein an engagement structure for establishing engagement between thearticle containing plate part and the cover plate part is formed byfitting a recess formed in one of the article containing plate part andthe cover plate part over a projection formed in the other.
 25. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 2, wherein an engagementstructure for establishing engagement between the article containingplate part and the cover plate part by fitting a recess formed in one ofthe article containing plate part and the cover plate part over aprojection formed in the other is constituted by a circular projectionand an approximately rectangular recess.
 26. The article packaging bodyaccording to claim 2, wherein an aperture for hanging is formed in oneedge side such that the length from the aperture to the other edge iswithin a range of lengths permitted for the hanging display.
 27. Thearticle packaging body according to claim 2, wherein the article is abutton-type cell.
 28. The article packaging body according to claim 2,wherein the article is a zinc-air cell, the zinc-air cell is held at thetip end of the gripping piece through a seal film consisting of asealing portion removably attached to the zinc-air cell so as to closean air hole thereof and a fold-back portion formed by folding the edgeof the sealing portion onto the sealing portion so as to be extendedtherefrom, and the fold-back portion is connected to the tip end of thegripping piece.